Digital literacy has gained importance in view of challenges posed by Covid19 pandemic, said the minister for tribal affairs, Arjun Munda, as he announced a partnership with Facebook through GOAL (Going Online As Leaders) programme. The programme intends to upskill and tribal youths to harness the full potential of digital platforms and tools to learn new ways of doing business, explore and connect
with domestic and international markets.
GOAL (Going Online As Leaders) programme is an initiative of Facebook designed to provide mentorship to tribal youth through digital mode. In this programme, 5,000 scheduled tribe youth (to
be called as ‘Mentees’) will get an opportunity to get training by experts from different disciplines and fields (to be called as ‘Mentors’). There will be one mentor for two mentees. The programme aims to
enable Scheduled Tribe youth in remote areas to use digital platforms for sharing their aspirations, dreams and talent with their mentors. The digitally enabled programme envisages to act as a catalyst to
explore hidden talents of the tribal youth, who will be trained to play an important role in the all-round upliftment of their society. Facebook had run the project on pilot basis from February 2019 to October
2019 in five states with 100 mentees and 25 mentors which received enthusiastic response. Based on its success, Facebook approached the tribal affairs ministry for a joint initiative under affirmative action
and help Facebook in selection of mentees, design curriculum and various activities under the programme.
The Mentees and Mentors have to register on portal (goal.tribal.gov.in), which will be open till July 14, 2020. Ministry of electronics and IT has been requested to associate CSCs (Common Service Centres) in facilitating ST youth who do not have smartphones, for registration with portal.
The mentees and mentors will be selected based on their inputs in such a way that it represents tribal youth from varied professions and has representation from urban and rural areas across India. The programme will focus on three core areas – digital literacy, life skills and leadership and entrepreneurship, and on sectors such as agriculture, art and culture, handicrafts and textiles, health, nutrition, among others. The selected mentees will be provided smartphones and internet access (for one year) by Facebook along with exposure to various external forums that will allow them to showcase their skills.
